McAuliffe says he's the mainstream candidate

Terry McAuliffe, the Democratic nominee for governor, got his start in politics and in business early.

At age 14 he started McAuliffe Driveway Maintenance, sealing neighborhood driveways and parking lots in his native Syracuse, N.Y.

He hasn't lost his Upstate accent, but McAuliffe has lived in Northern Virginia for more than two decades.

His Republican opponent, Ken Cuccinelli, says McAuliffe is a creature of Washington, D.C., and someone who only started thinking about issues in Virginia when he started considering a gubernatorial run in 2009.

McAuliffe counters that he's running because he has a mainstream, pro-business vision for the commonwealth. And he has said early and often that he's the more mainstream candidate in the race for governor, touting a string of endorsements he's received from current and former Republican officeholders.

A political fund-raiser extraordinaire, McAuliffe has already outspent all other governor's candidates in Virginia's modern history, according to the Virginia Public Access Project.

He's also tapping old political allies to give his campaign a boost as it heads into the final stretch.

McAuliffe managed Hillary Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign, and was so close with former President Bill Clinton that he was dubbed "first friend."

Hillary Clinton campaigned on McAuliffe's behalf in Northern Virginia, while President Clinton is set to begin a multi-city, multi-day swing on his behalf that will include events in Hampton Sunday night and in Norfolk Monday morning.

If elected McAuliffe said he wants to tap billions of dollars available through the Affordable Care Act to expand Virginia's Medicaid program and free up money elsewhere in the state budget.

He's said that he also wants to boost funding for the state's public schools and increase teacher pay, which lags behind that of teachers across the country by one measure.